Nearly 150 illegal oil waste dumps

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — People have been caught nearly 150 times in the past year trying to illegally dump oil field waste in two of western North Dakota's biggest landfills.

That's according to public records obtained by The Associated Press.

None of the incidents resulted in fines or other sanctions from the state, and it's not clear where the waste was ultimately sent.

The AP requested the dumping statistics on Wednesday, hours before state health officials announced they are writing new rules to track oil field waste.

Scott Radig, the state Health Department's waste management director, says the new rules are in response to a growing number of illegally tossed filter socks. Those are tubular nets that strain liquids in the oil production process.